In a crowded room at St. Pete's water resources department headquarters, Mayor Rick Kriseman said Wednesday he'd like to spend the city's share of BP oil disaster settlement money on things that would help reduce residents' dependence on cars, thus helping cull demand for the risky practice of offshore drilling.
“I believe the fiscally responsible thing to do with onetime funds is to use them for onetime investments," he said. "And first and foremost, I believe these funds should be used to make us a greener city, a more sustainable city, a more resilient city, a better city.”
His proposal on how to spend the net $6.5 million — consisting of a long list of things, including a $1 million arts endowment, another $1 million for a bike share, $1 million in upgrades to failing stormwater infrastructure and $250,000 toward a USF research vessel — went over pretty well for the most part.
“It's always great to see when BP oil disaster settlement funds are used to prevent future BP oil disasters," said Mark Ferrulo, director of the nonprofit Progress Florida. "And there's a lot in this plan that gets at reducing our dependence on automobiles, that deals with making our buildings more energy efficient. There are the things that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, so the pressure to put more oil rigs off our coast is lessened.”
There were, of course, also some criticisms that cast doubt on whether the city council will be fully on board.
One sticking point for the mayor's proposal, at least among some, is that it funds new programs when the city is in desperate need of an overhaul of its stormwater system, as evidenced by recent dumps of 31 million gallons of raw and treated sewage into Clam Bayou and Tampa Bay in the wake of an uncommonly heavy — and lengthy — rain event. Kriseman's proposal would only give $1 million to stormwater.
“The city has $23 million of very high-priority needs to repair sewer breaks, which is the cause of this massive sewer overflow that we had," said Councilman Karl Nurse. "Those are the needs that are not funded. I think we should use the lion's share of this money to at least fund the repairs that our own water department describes as must be done this year.”
He said that constitutes half of the city's immediate needs, the other half of which is already funded. And while Kriseman's wish list consists of good ideas, to apply the bulk of the BP money toward that $23 million sum would be no drop in the bucket, he said.
“It would be poop in the bucket, is what it would be," he said. "Just because it's a big job doesn't mean you don't have to take the opportunities you have to chip away at it.”
But Kriseman disagrees.
“I know Councilmember Nurse wants more money in this category." he said. "But I believe these settlement funds are unique, and they should be used to address items that would otherwise not be appropriated.”
The mayor has at least one ally in that regard.
“We all know that fixing our crumbling infrastructure is the number-one priority," said St. Pete Councilwoman Darden Rice. "If a house's foundation is crumbling, you don't go out and get a paint job. So, it's right that a million dollars is being put toward immediate, urgent needs for fixing the sewer lines. But guess what? Water resources is one of our biggest resources. It constitutes 23 percent of our entire city capital operating budget.”
Rice also defended the proposal to use some of the money to fund arts, something that'll probably get some criticism as discussion over the money ensues.
“Arts and culture is a part of sustainability and resiliency, because the more that a city, its vibrancy, its connectivity, its ability to defend and build our cultural diversity, that becomes a broader part of what resiliency is about," she said. "So it absolutely belongs as part of the BP money allocation.”
The settlement comes from the damage that resulted from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.
Our beaches didn't get oiled per se, but oil that matched that spilled into the northern gulf was found on Sunset Beach this past June. The long-term effects of the disaster are as yet untold, but the state took in more than $3 billion in settlements from the offshore drilling disaster.
Most of the damage was economic, given the perception that the entire state was covered in oil, though it's really unclear how much economic — and long-term environmental — damage has been done, all told.
The council will have a preliminary debate on the mayor's proposal Thursday, and they could ultimately reject it.
“They could agree with me, they could disagree with me, they could accept parts or reject parts," Kriseman said. "Obviously, I think sustainability and resiliency is important moving forward, and that's why we made the recommendations we made.”
This article appears in Oct 8-14, 2015.